Customer Reviews

The Spirit Ring

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was the first Lois McMaster Bujold book I ever read (and now I've read them all) and it's still one of my favorites. What makes this book stand out from all the other Middle Ages, magical rings books is, first and foremost, this book makes sense! Bujold carefully lays down the ground rules for the use of magic in her world, and then she sticks to them. There's no "Deus ex machina" in The Spirit Ring, just a wonderful, witty, entirely "believable" story. As always in a Bujold book, there's mystery, comedy, action, and even a little romance.

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"The Spirit Ring" is based on "The Grateful Dead", which is an old
folk-tale (young man pays for a pauper's burial, and is rewarded by his
ghost), Ms. Bujold's great-uncle's Ph.D. dissertation, and (I presume)
source of the band's name. This is, I think, her most personal novel. The
heroine's domineering, larger-than-life father must be, in part, LMB's own
engineer-father, though the character is formally modeled on Benvenuto
Cellini. The spunky, rebellious, and ultimately spectacularly successful
daughter is surely, in part, Lois herself (or at least a power-fantasy
wish-fulfillment mental self-image) [1]. Huh. I don't normally do (or
like) this sort of review, but it feels right this time. Read the book and
see what you think. LMB has said that the engineer-hero of "Falling Free"
was explicitly modeled after her Dad. And "The Spirit Ring" is her only
female coming-of-age novel. None of this will get in the way of your
enjoyment of the book, BTW, it's Bujold at her story-telling best, a fine
and stirring yarn indeed.

We're in the smokehouse at a rural inn:

Thur glanced up, then his gaze was riveted by what lay in the shadows
above the rafters... the nude body of a gray-bearded man, close-wrapped in
the same sort of gauze as the sausages... His skin was shrivelled and
tanning in the smoke.

"Pico was right," Thur observed after a moment's stunned silence. "Your
wife does smoke the most unusual hams."

Catti glanced up after him. "Oh, that," he said in disgust. "...He's a
refugee from Montefoglia who didn't quite make it. Penniless, it turned
out -- after the bill was run up."

"Do you often do this to guests who don't pay?" asked Thur in a fascinated
voice. "I'll tell Pico to settle our bill promptly..."

"The Spirit Ring" was Bujold's ninth published novel, first fantasy novel
and first hardcover. It didn't sell very well. I was vaguely aware of its
existence, but I'm not a regular fantasy reader and had passed it by. Don't
you make the same mistake.

Happy reading!
Pete Tillman

A quite enjoyable book. Being a fan of the Vorkosigan books, I put off reading this book out of fear that a SF author's first (and at the time only) foray into fantasy wouldn't be up to snuff. I was quite pleased to find my fears were unfounded.

LMB brings a "scientific" approach to magic, which is quite refreshing compared to the average fantasy novel. While not at all all similar, it reminds me of Modessit's concept of magic (where there are systematic rules to how magic works).

The book does suffer from a slight lack of character development, and there aren't too many surprises at the end. But these problems are quite small when compared to the fact that the book is just plain fun to read.

I am having a real problem with this one. On one hand I know it is a relatively simplistic tale, with an average story line and mediocre characters. The dialogue seems forced sometimes and a bit, well, underdone at others. So what is my problem?

I really like it! I mean I had fun with this story. Even with its problems I enjoyed reading it, several times as a matter of fact. I enjoyed the interaction of the characters, the budding romance, the mixture of religion and magic.

Dispassionately looking at this book it really doesn't rate anything above a 3, but if I were rating on my enjoyment alone it would easily be a 4 or maybe even a 5. This seems to be written with a younger audience in mind and should be classified as young adult or juvenile fiction. No sex, little violence and a quick read. If you like fantasy, especially young adult type of fantasy I think you will like this.

Highly recommended.

This was the first Bujold book I happened to pick up. A medieval fantasy would not normally be a vehicle for comedy, but this one is. There are several zinger lines and a sequence involving poisoned wine that is hillarious. The book makes a serious point and makes you laugh at the same time.

While a seemingly teen fantasy at times in the beginning, this tale does have Bujold's signature tension-filled, squirming adventure that her fans slurp up like...butter bug juice (she cannot control herself - grin). First in the mine accident, and then not for quite awhile, until our Hero is sent off to plant "ears" for spying. After that, the pace picks up in true Bujold style and humor (the woman is amazing with the humor). The whole thing with the statue was AWESOME, Medusa head, pock marks and all.

I can now die happy.

I had thought that I'd read EVERY book Bujold wrote. She's among my most-favorite authors: The people whose books you grab off the bookstore shelf without even examining the back cover, because you have absolute faith you'll enjoy anything she writes. But I found The Spirit Ring on the shelf at my nearby library; I hadn't even known this book existed. I'm glad I grabbed it -- and now you have the opportunity to do so, too.

If you're a fan of Bujold's books -- either the Miles Vorkosigan SF series or her fantasy series (Chalion and The Sharing Knife), then I don't need to tell you that Bujold has the gift of making believable characters in engaging settings, usually with a giggle-out-loud sense of humor. She does an amazing job of putting her characters through plots best described as One Damned Thing After Another and making me turn pages long after my bedtime. Underneath some damned fine storytelling she usually has includes a fascinating What If premise (e.g. what would the ramifications be if THIS technology existed, or if Gods actually *could* interact with people, or...).

The Spirit Ring doesn't live up to her tippy-top best work, but it's still a fun story.

This fantasy takes place in an alternate medieval Italy, wherein the major difference is that magic works (with well defined physics and limitations) and is accepted by the Church (under regulation). One of the two protagonists is Fiametta, the daughter of an accomplished metalworker and mage. 16-year-old Fiametta has been taught some metalcraft but her father's unwilling to train her in magic because she's a GIRL. (Girls still have cooties in alternate universes. Well, it wouldn't have helped the story if Fiametta had confidence in what she's doing.) There's a political coup, in which Dad and Fiametta have to run away. Meanwhile, miner Thur Ochs (who has a talent for "finding things") is on his way to their town for a promised job working for the self-same craftsman. He and Fiametta must save the day (and find romance, naturally).

Perhaps that makes the story sound a little TOO lightweight, because there's a fair bit of violence and nasty villains. But the book isn't at all dark. At some points I thought this was "What Miles Vorkosigan would be like if he were dumped in Renaissance Europe."

This probably shouldn't be the first Bujold book you read. It's not quite as desperately entertaining as is the Miles series (start with Cordelia's Honor), nor does it have the lush depth that Bujold accomplished with the books in the Chalion series (start with The Curse of Chalion). But if you enjoy her other novels, you're almost certain to like this one, too.

Bujold's venture into dark fantasy is very successful; this book is fully enclosed, with a well wrapped up story and it does not threaten to be on of these 20 plus volume cycles that run our of steam by volume 3, but it is an engrossing and very stylish novel. Setting the action in a parallel universe, on Renaissance Earth where magic is not only commonly used, but codified with guild rules, allows her to bring very strange elements to what would otherwise be a rather simple story.

The main character is a headstrong girl, and her and other people and demons in this story are fleshed out (rotting in pieces a bit) really well. This is action driven tale, but the story of daughter's revenge and quest to save her father's soul, no less, is well designed, with emotional resonance. There is black magic, necromancy and black humour, and this is a beautifully designed world, filled with fascinating details. Also, apart from the Earthsea cycle, I don't know many other fantasy novels where the main protagonist has such lovingly described dark skin, and exotic looks, but that's just a nice bonus. This is a real fantasy treat, not as sophisticated as Bujold's main stream sci-fi work, especially the Vorkosigan series, but it's a nice detour.

A light fantasy, this book is a real change of pace for LMcB; but it is still in her own style, covering the serious and sprinkling it through with light humour. An entertaining and amusing read.

I picked this book up as one of the kindle special offers, for a mere 99 cents. Prior to reading this book, I had never read anything by this author, though I have looked at several of her books. I am a fan of a good fantasy, and I also enjoy books written for young adults. This book, to me, felt very much like it would be marketed as a YA book. It was a very quick read, and definitely kept my attention. I finished it in a few hours.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Spirit Ring. I especially liked the setting of Renaissance Italy. This is out of the norm for a fantasy novel, as most fantasy novelists seem to set their books in very medieval worlds. This one included elements of science, as we would expect for a book set during the Renaissance, which was a hotbed of scientific exploration. I also enjoyed the main character, Fiametta, a young woman. The young male lead, Thur, is left somewhat underdeveloped, in my opinion, but I did like the character. He shows a rather surprising streak of resourcefulness for one who appeared so stolid and ordinary for most of the book. In fact, the resourcefulness displayed by both Thur and Fiametta was one of my favorite parts of the book.

With respect to things that I thought were weak, I really felt that the "magic" part of the book was left underexplained and underexplored. The final "battle" was also a bit over-the-top. The ending was nice, but not extraordinary.

I would give this book somewhere between three and four stars, but closer to three than four. I enjoyed it, and would recommend it, but with some reservations. Someone who only enjoys very detailed, gritty fantasy would likely find this book lacking. Someone who enjoys a lot of romance might also find it underwhelming. The most logical audience for this book, to me, is a reader of any age who enjoys clean, young adult, fantasy.

I do plan to pick up the first book in one of Ms. Bujold's series, as I very much enjoyed her writing style.